Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Nov 24, 2010

Heather rated it:

I am in awe of this author’s talent. I hated this book, and loved it. It’s cruel, and frustrating, unfair, and yet it’s also sad, and hopeful, and honest and authentic. I’m not sure how everyone else feels about their High School experience, but I despised mine. You couldn’t pay me to go back. However, this story was so vivid, that I felt as though I could smell the grease from the cafeteria, feel the rough tile on the bathroom floor and the chill of that cold fateful night. I even cringed a More...

17 comments like (143 people liked it)

Feb 07, 2011

Annalisa rated it:

Reading through Sam's last day of life, I was transported back to high school with those girls who were shallow, self-centered, and unaware and thought they were cool and better than everyone else because they were shallow, self-centered, and unaware. I felt emotions I had not experienced in years, emotions I had long forgotten. Oliver captures that teenage-centric narcissism so vividly, so much more intently than I ever understood in high school, that I couldn't help but hate Sam and feel some More...

12 comments like (49 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2011

Tatiana rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

21 comments like (44 people liked it)

Dec 20, 2011

Kat rated it:

I have to confess something before I write this review. This book is about a teenager, Sam, who is a Mean Girl who trips into Groundhog Day world and is set on a path to redemption. My confession is that I used to be a girl almost exactly like Sam.

Shallow, egotistical and worst of all - mean. Really, really mean.

I've commented before on the fact that I was a terrible teenager. My parents did not so much try to raise me through these years. More like they tried to s More...

13 comments like (58 people liked it)

Jun 24, 2011

Elle rated it:

I'd heard from quite a few people that this book was pretty good...

That may be the most OUTRAGEOUS understatement of all time.

'Pretty good' doesn't explain the embarrassing amount of tears that poured out of me.

'Pretty good' doesn't touch on Lauren Oliver's incredible way with words and imagery.

'Pretty good' doesn't describe the range of conflicting emotions the story sparked in me.

And 'Pretty good' certainly doesn't account for the fact that, once I finished the final page, I literally threw t More...

9 comments like (56 people liked it)

May 10, 2010

Penny rated it:

Before I get to the review I just wanted to let everyone know I don't typically write reviews for books I love. The reason being, I'm not good at writing worth-while and positive reviews. (As opposed to my uncanny ability to write crazy rants about books I totally loathe.) Or rather, I know I'm not up to the task: writing a review worthy of a book so beautiful, so eloquently written I can't stop thinking about it long after I've finished it. I know there is nothing I could say that could not b More...

17 comments like (108 people liked it)

Nov 27, 2011

Ash rated it:

This is a hard book to rate. It’s in a whole different realm and I’m not sure what to do. It’s special. Not like in a good or bad way, but in a way that it’s different. You can’t compare it to anything else because…it isn’t like anything else. Yeah, I know I’m making a lot of sense. One thing that this does is make you feel and it makes you think.

Quick Overview: Samantha Kingston has everything a girl could want. She’s popular, has a hunky popular boyfriend, great friends, and there se More...

7 comments like (12 people liked it)

Oct 05, 2011

thewanderingjew rated it:

The author is young, not far from being a teen herself which probably accounts for her acute recall of the kind of behavior she explores in her book. She does it so well that the pages turn themselves. I am a senior citizen and my high school days came flooding back with memories of the "mean" girls in my school, although "mean" and/or popular girls then, were vastly different from their counterparts today. Today, the bullying behavior is more apparent, at even younger ages, More...

1 comment like (11 people liked it)

Feb 11, 2011

Jillian -always aspiring- rated it:

(Note: I'm writing this review at 3 a.m., so my thoughts are a little disjointed. I am still digesting the book because sometimes it just wasn't easy to swallow or stomach. But it was worth it.)

Phew.

Those five stars were well-earned. Want to know why? My experience with Before I Fall was very rocky. Most times, I wanted to put down the book in frustration and walk away, but all the glowing reviews whispered in my ear, "Keep on reading. There's a good story he More...

11 comments like (34 people liked it)

Nov 05, 2011

Leanne rated it:

Wow, did this ever surprise me. My expectations for this book were rather low- You can't say the plot is very original. A mix of Groundhog's Day and Mean Girls? Not really promising. Even at the start, I was feeling a bit iffy about this, unsure in weather I should continue- yet something told me this one was special. And you know what? It really was.

Because it's not necessarily the plot or the characters themselves that make this book deserve a five star. It was amazing at how much t More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Sep 22, 2011

Book Chick City rated it:

Reviewed by Laura for Book Chick City. Rating 7/10 on the blog.

When I first started reading 'Before I Fall' it reminded me a little bit of a cross between the films 'Groundhog Day & 'Mean Girls'. 

At the beginning, I didn't like Sam very much at all. She was one of those girls at school who was more concerned about appearances than substance, and her friends were equally as shallow. They were more obsessed with how many red roses they would get on Cupid's Day, as a show of More...

0 comments like (14 people liked it)

Aug 16, 2011

Kate rated it:

4.5 stars to be more accurate I think....

Oh my goodness Lauren Oliver! What exactly do we have here? I would write a review but you have left me a speechless blubbering mess. When I graduated from High School at the end of May 2004, and thanked God it was finally all over and vowed never to go back. I meant it. But you had to go and put me through 341 more pages didn't you? Gah!! What an evil thing to do.

Looking back over the last few books I've finished and reviewed. I More...

4 comments like (8 people liked it)

Feb 26, 2011

Kristi (The Story Siren) added it

WOW.

That would be my one word review for this book... WOW.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked this up, and to say that I was utterly unprepared for it's magnificence, would be an understatement. This book evoked such strong emotion. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I was bawling by the end of the story. For me, the stories that awaken your emotions are always the most powerful and memorable. And I don't read many books like that, so when I do, it tends to real More...

0 comments like (11 people liked it)

Feb 04, 2012

♥ Marlene♥ rated it:

Totally unexpected but I loved loved this book! I did not know what this book was about before I picked it up but I decided to give it a try and at first I thought O this is going to be boring but how wrong I was. I do not know how she does it but she made Sam experiencing the same day so interesting and not boring at all. I could relate to each character which does not happen much and had a hard time to put this book down. Actually I am a bit sad now that I've finished it. I am not good in writ More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 23, 2011

Lynn rated it:

Ok this is a bit of an odd review. The first 2/3 of the book was painful. I don't think it was really bad writting, it was simply because I absolutely LOATHED the characters. If I knew people like that in real life I would probably punch them in the face after oh half an hour at the most and thats with me overestimating my selfrestraint. So now that we established that its just awful thanks to the characters I need to point out the ending was fantastic. I'm not going to say it wasn't predicatabl More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 01, 2011

Sarah added it

You know when you find a book that's so amazing you just want to pick it up and read it over and over again? Before I Fall is one of those books. I've already read this one twice, so I don't exactly have the big urge to rave about it to anyone and everyone anymore (I did the first time I read it. Unfortunately, I didn't have a blog at the time), but its almost as if I've come to think of this one as a classic. Its like when you find out someone has no clue what Romeo and Juliet is, your like wha More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 06, 2011

Aleeza rated it:

I went into this book rather anxious--as many glowing reviews as it had received, I was pretty certain that reading about the same day over and over and over again was going to be a total drag. And boy, was I wrong or what?

First up I'm going to have to mention Lauren Oliver's stunningstunningstunning writing. It pretty much makes me want to give up writing, but in a good sort of way--i.e., makes me want to be a better one. The metaphors are BEAUTIFUL and even though they're used oft More...

9 comments like (8 people liked it)

Dec 21, 2011

Hayden rated it:

Goodreads Exclusive Prelude: If you have not read this/rated it under five stars, you have no soul.

Oh . . . Oh, my God . . .

Five stars. Five billion stars. Five quadrillion stars. Five infinity stars.

I don't think I'll ever read a book that'll touch me in quite the same way.

A lot of Goodreadsers didn't like Before I Fall because they couldn't relate to it at all and the characters didn't relate to them. Before I Fall did relate to me because the main chara More...

11 comments like (13 people liked it)

Mar 19, 2011

Melissa rated it:

I received this as an ARC from Barnes and Noble, and I'm so glad I did! It's not one I would have chosen off the shelf; I would have waited for several reviews from friends... but it was FANTASTIC.

I have to echo the note I received from the publisher with the book - I can't believe I hated the protagonist so much at the beginning and loved her so much at the end. Oliver's writing is really beautiful, and even though the plot is about a girl who relives her dying day six times, she t More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 04, 2011

Nina rated it:

Before I Fall is everything a novel should be. It is moving, inspiring, romantic, frustrating, heartbreakingly sad, and yet incredibly optimistic. Samantha might just be the most real girl I've ever read about in a YA novel, and I couldn't help but love her despite, or maybe because of, all her faults. Her actions are always very believable, if she's hanging out with her little sister or making fun of someone in the school cafeteria, and the amount she develops in just one week is nothing short More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 08, 2010

Grace rated it:

Completely unusual, in the nicest ways. There are lots of books about high school, but this is the first one I've read where I found myself identifying so strongly with the setting -- Oliver does an amazing job of really setting the tone of a New England public high school and the personalities that make up each high school class.

Sam is not a particularly admirable character at times, but she is real. You get why her friends like her, you get why her enemies both fear and envy her, a More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 16, 2011

Cheyenne rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Sep 06, 2011

Ashelynn rated it:

Wow. What a brilliant debut! I love Lauren Oliver, and this is my second book I've read from her (haha, as it should be, since she only has two published/out in the world books. I do have an ARC of Liesl & Po, and I'm very excited to dive into it!)

All I knew about Before I Fall is 1) a lot of people liked it 2) A lot of people hated Sam and her group since they were bitches and 3) she has to relive the same day for seven days in a row.

I freaking love this book, and Sam. More...

5 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 29, 2011

prettybooks rated it:

Unlike most other novels, the main character dies in the first chapter. This automatically makes for an interesting book because it is not often that you can enjoy a story while knowing what happens at the end.

There are many things I enjoyed about this novel, in particular:

3) I found Before I Fall to be extremely realistic. Lauren Oliver really understands teenagers, perhaps a lot more than they understand themselves. This, I think, is what makes Before I Fall stand out f More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 05, 2011

ABBIE rated it:

Have you ever thought about how you would die? What's the last thing you'll see, who'll be the last person you will talked to? Did you even get to say goodbye to your parents, say 'I love you' and hug them?

Samantha Kingston did. She lived her last day (February 12) over and over, 7 times to be exact.

First came the confusion. Why is it still February 12? Is last night just a dream, a nightmare? Am I awake now?

Second came the denial. No, I must still be dreaming More...

6 comments like (5 people liked it)

Mar 24, 2011

Erica (daydreamer) rated it:

What makes a life worth living for? A life, that isn’t just about you, but is in part, about others, about making their lives more worthwhile. It’s the precious moments in it. The subtle things. The moments that if you’re living too fast, or believing yourself to be the most important one in your life, you will fly right by, and miss them. You will miss the beauty, the joy, the opportunities to lift someone, to want to see light in someone’s eyes, instead of thinking about yourself and not carin More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Oct 23, 2010

Tiffany rated it:

I have no idea how to rate this book. I would say 5 stars to author Lauren Oliver in taking juveniles with a blatant disregard to humanity and turning it into the story of Sam who discovers the importance of humanity. Some of the thoughts that Sam would think as she would pass from one day to the next were beautifully thoughtful causing you to question how you treat and respect the people and things we have. How do we (ourselves) treat individual people? How much affect do we have on the wor More...

20 comments like (11 people liked it)

Aug 23, 2010

Lucy rated it:

Before I Fall is the excellently written, thought provoking debut novel by Lauren Oliver. This is a gripping, fast paced story that had me hooked from the first pages. It kept me up late a couple nights reading since I could not put it down.

This book tells the story of high school student Samantha (Sam) Kingston. Sam has it all- popularity, best friends, a handsome boyfriend. She loses it all in a heartbeat when she suddenly dies in a car accident. Sam wakes up the morning after her More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Feb 04, 2012

TheBookVixen rated it:

Before I Fall is narrated by Samantha and starts off like this:

They say that just before you die your whole life flashes before your eyes, but that’s not how it happened for me.

It’s Friday, February 12th, which also happens to be Cupid Day. It’s a competition between Samantha and her friends to see who gets the most roses. This is also the day that Samantha has planned to finally “do it” with her boyfriend Rob.

Samantha has it all - the popularity, the hot boyf More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 08, 2011

Tammara added it

Sam could be a member of the Plastics (Mean Girls). She has everything most girls wish for in life -- a set of close friends, a head-turning, attentive boyfriend, the perfect body, and very little personal responsibility. Sam, in fact, is super extra good at avoiding much personal responsibility, whether that means paying attention to her little sister, outright honesty in her friendships, or kindness to the many others in her life who seem far beneath her notice.

Also borrowing eleme More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)